MADRID WITH MY MAN

Square

After a nice long lie in catch up on our solo adventures we made the most of the showers, air con and wifi. Checking out was hard and we very almost nearly stayed another night just so Joshua could have some luxury too. Taking the metro back to the van we dropped offer stuff and headed back to the city centre. So many people had suggested the San Miguel market so it was top of our list to visit. We were starving and so overwhelmed with the amazing offerings. Each little stall packed with people, queues at least 3 deep at each counter and what a variety of food. Safe to say we ate so much we felt sick. Standing alongside a fruit and veg stall sampling all the delights was a dream. We tried the most divine steak cooked to order on a sizzling hot skillet and smattered with rock salt. We snacked pork scratching as we wove between the crowd looking closer at the fresh food and picked up some olives as a starter. The croquettes from a little cart were scrummy, its no wonder after all that food we felt ill! Sipping our sangrias it was like we’d never been apart. We wanted to grab a seat so headed to a nearby hostel with what promised to be a superb rooftop bar. Under the shade of the trees lounged on a sofa and enjoyed ice cold drinks. I am sure josh even nodded off at one point. We thought we’d missed the hottest part of the day and so went to the main square, boy were we wrong. It was like an oven four walls trapping in the burning sun with limited shade on the edges. We quickly ran to the centre to get a closer look at the monument before admitting defeat and taking shelter. From my research I found out that Madrid is famous for its churros. They are my dream food, sweet batter deep fried in oil and coated liberally with sugar and then dipped in chocolate, oh the calories were so worth it. I found the most famous spot in town called Chocolateria San Gines and we squeezed into the packed cafe on the only available table. Within minutes we had two hot Chocolate and six churros to share. The churros were huge and well enough to share. I loved seeing them in big batches being freshly prepared, the sickly sweet smell of sugar and chocolate filling the air. The chocolate oh wow let me tell you about the hot chocolate. It was not a hit chocolate that you’ve ever seen before but it was genuinely near enough melted chocolate! I don’t think it was meant for drinking but still it came in a mug so after polishing off our treats we sipped our ‘drinks’. To walk off our sweet treats I took Joshua down the biggest shopping street in Europe the Gran Via. I could tell Joshua was basically dead on his feet and so I thought we could relax in a nearby park. We lay on the grass and listened to the parakeets overhead.  We dozed in the afternoon sun for a good couple of hours. We craved some home comforts especially Joshua after a few heavy days so we thought we’d be naughty and have a Chinese. What a feast you wouldn’t have thought we’d not long made ourselves ill with food because we were starving and ordered so so much! Sticky chilli beef and duck pancakes. It was a fabulous day in Madrid a city I would definitely recommend and would love to go back!

 

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